Fate of Two Worlds: Zodiac Saga
by ambsos001
Summary: Years after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, and old enemy seeks to resurrect an ancient evil, trapped within a hell dimension. Now it's up to Mimi's children and the new American digidestined to gather the 12 zodiac stones before it's too late...
1. Once Upon a Time

Okay so this is my first ever fanfic, so I'm eager to see what the response will be like if anyone bothers to read it (hehehe). I don't want to say too much about the plot but the story revolves around seven teenage American digidestined (including Mimi and Michael's son and daughter). A new evil emerges that threatens to consume not only the Digital World but the real world as well, so a battle is about to be waged on both the real world and the Digi-world.

Disclaimer: Hmmm…well, I guess I don't own Digimon. I own all original characters, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure who those are and finally some of my "original" digimon are inspired by Pokemon and Neopets (especially the rookies).

Btw, I plan on updating regularly, hopefully at least once a week like a tv series.

Without further ado, let the adventure begin…

**Digimon: The Fate of Two Worlds**

**Zodiac Saga**

**#1: Once Upon a Time**

"This is nice," Isis Rodriguez sighed blissfully before sipping on her ice-tea. "No homework to worry about, no chores to do; no stress and no cares, just the way I like it." She took another sip from her cool beverage.

Isis was a 17 year old, half-Latina curly-haired brunette, with bright green eyes and a tall slender figure. She was known for being strong willed but intelligent, fierce but calm and was always getting involved in school sports, clubs and other social activities, making her not only the prettiest girl in school but also the most popular.

Trey Tachikawa-Washington sighed in agreement. "Pity this doesn't last forever though."

Being the oldest child of the internationally acclaimed celebrity chef and talk show host, Mimi Tachikawa, and world famous movie star, Michael Washington, combined with his position as star quarterback of the school's football team, it was no surprise that Trey happened to be who almost every girl in the school wanted to be with who every guy wanted to be; but Trey had never been interested in the limelight, he was content just hanging out with his friends like any normal seventeen year old. He was about a head taller than Isis, with short, neatly combed lilac locks and deep blue eyes; he was not overly muscular but trim and toned for his height and physique.

"Don't remind me," Isis moaned. "For the rest of the summer you're not allowed to mention anything school related okay? You can't even think the word."

"Fine by me."

Blue Water Beach was always quiet in the evenings, few people ever lingered on the beach after sunset; this suited Trey very much, it wasn't often he could get away from the hustle and constant noise of the city, so this was a welcome change. The pair lay on their backs on beach towels at the top of a shallow ascent overlooking the ocean which had turned dark, reflecting the night sky. At the foot of the ascent, splashing about in the water, three digimon and a third human were enjoying a game of tag.

"Hey, you guys sure you don't want to join in?" JT Luthor called, out of breath, to his friends. Trey and Isis mumbled their refusals, too content to move. "You guys are boring!"

JT – short for Jack Tyson – was Trey's best friend; the two had known each other since birth and had even gotten their digimon partners at the same time. They pair were inseparable and over the years their friendship had developed into a brotherhood despite the fact that they were as different as two people could be. Where Trey grew up in a wealthy family, JT's family had always been middleclass and were barely able to make ends meet like most other families, but they were too proud to ask for any financial help from their friends the Tachikawa-Washingtons'. JT was always getting himself into trouble as he was head strong and would often act without thinking, Trey on the other hand was calculated and always had a plan; where JT was hotheaded, Trey was known to be patient and only ever got angry when provoked or when his friends' or family's wellbeing were threatened. However, what the boys did have in common was that both of them would do anything to protect the ones they loved and it was this character trait that each respected and admired in the other.

JT was about the same height as Trey but was lean, where Trey was toned, and always wore clothes that were a couple sizes too big for him. His black hair was short and unkempt, styled haphazardly in short spikes and his brown eyes were open with a hint of playfulness, in contrast to Trey's brooding blue eyes.

"And you're it! Tag!" Felizmon, Trey's digimon partner, exclaimed, taking advantage of JT's moment of distraction to playfully strike him with a small blue paw before dashing away.

"I'm gonna get you for that, Felizmon," JT cried.

"You'll never catch me!" The blue digimon stuck out his tongue cheekily, taunting the teenager.

The best way to describe Felizmon would be as a cross between a puppy and a kangaroo. His head was like that of a puppy, with large black eyes a small button nose and long floppy ears but his body and posture were like that of a kangaroo, minus the pouch, however, a small kangaroo as he was little taller than Trey's waistline. Running down his back were bone spikes which ended just before his long tail, the tip of which was shaped like an arrow head. His fur was short and a bright shade of blue and on his forehead was a tuft of blue fur, like a fringe. His underbelly was covered by a thin coating of flesh hued fur.

Felizmon was a playful, cheeky digimon but was fiercely loyal to Trey and apart from JT and Isis was Trey's best friend. The pair had been together since Trey was a toddler and Felizmon was nothing more than a digi-egg waiting to be hatched and had been inseparable ever since. Felizmon's energy and enthusiasm always had a way of making Trey smile even when he was meant to be angry at the mischievous digimon.

JT sprinted after the blue digimon but quickly gave up, realizing it was futile. He focused his attention on the other two digimon, assessing which one would be an easier target. His decision was between Bichomon, his own partner, and Chattemon, Isis' digimon partner.

Bichomon was an overgrown yellow dragonfly; however, it only had four limbs – a pair of small hands, with two claws on each hand, and a pair of feet, also with two claws on each foot. He had large green segmented fly-like eyes and a line of green wedges jutted from its forwards, down its back to the tip of its small tail, which ended in a sharp, silver stinger. Finally, protruding from his back were two pairs of large veiny, semi-transparent fly-like wings. This digimon literally resembled a cross between a fly and a small dragon, standing at a head shorter than Felizmon.

Chattemon, on the other hand, was a small cat-like digimon with fur which was a mixture of dark pink and baby pink; and large blue eyes. Tucked behind her head were two furry antennae-like protrusions from either side of her forehead; however, her most striking feature was her two large pairs of ears on either side of her head.

JT considered the two digimon carefully, Chattemon was fast but nowhere near as fast as Felizmon – mainly because of the blue digimon's powerful kangaroo-like legs that helped it leap a sizable distance at a time – but she was faster than Bichomon, however, the bug digimon had the flight advantage. JT lunged at the pink cat.

Chattemon squealed in excitement as she narrowly evaded the attempt. "That was too close," she sighed her relief before creating some space between herself and JT.

Bichomon tauntingly flew within reaching distance of JT; then swiftly eluded JT's efforts at making contact with him. "Face it; the probability that you will be able to catch any of us is minimal," he buzzed haughtily. "I told you all those chocolate donuts would do you no good."

"Put a sock in it," JT feigned annoyance and made another failed attempt at getting hold of the bug digimon.

"Bicho's right, JT, you really should lay off of the donuts," Trey sniggered, before he knew both he and Isis were covered in sand. "HEY!" JT laughed out loud and kicked more sand at his friends. Trey returned the favor, kicking sand at JT; unfortunately for Isis, she was in the middle of the sand kicking and was struck by sand coming from both directions.

"Stop that!" Isis cried shaking the sand from her hair; the boys did as she said. As JT turned to return to the game of tag Isis grabbed a fistful of sand and flung it at his back, restarting the 'sand fight'.

"So does that mean we're not playing tag anymore?" Chattemon asked as the three digimon watched their partners trying to attack each other with sand.

"Who cares?" Felizmon enthused. "This looks way more fun!" and with that he kicked sand at the other two digimon. The six friends were shouted and laughed, as they enjoyed a game of 'sand war'.

They were so enthralled in their game that they did not notice as a small, feint white light shimmered in the air a distance away; it grew stronger by the moment, causing the air around to vibrate as it do so. The light was the size of a large doorway when Chattemon happened to notice it. "What's that?" she pointed one of her furry antennae towards the light. The other five looked to where she was pointing and gasped, bewildered.

"Looks like some sort of digi-port," Isis finally spoke. "I've never seen one appear out of nowhere like that before though."

"Something is coming out of it!" Bichomon yelped as a large dark silhouette emerged in the middle of the growing light.

"What is it?" Felizmon breathed; it was an open question to which no one had an answer.

Trey instinctively stepped into the space between his friends and the light, ready to protect them at any cost. "I think we're about to find out."

**(-o-)**

At the same time…

Mika Tachikawa-Washington was nothing like her brother, Trey. Though Trey would have preferred to do without the attention that came with being the child of two major international celebrities, he was still at the top of the social hierarchy at school and had no trouble making new friends; Mika on the other hand was not so fortunate, most people didn't even realize that the two were related, despite their eyes which were an identical shade of blue. Mika was the spitting image of her mother when she was her age, except she had shoulder length, straight turquoise hair and did not walk with as much confidence; where Mimi had always been aware of her beauty, Mika had always felt awkward and unattractive, always misconstruing the attention she was paid by boys for them being either particularly friendly or having some hidden agenda. Due to her lack of self-confidence in social situations, she usually avoided other people and engulfed herself in books of any type; she especially like books that allowed her to image she was someone brave and beautiful and liked by all. Mika's intelligence was far more advanced than any 15 year old she knew, but this did little to boost her popularity as she was shy and reserved, the result of which was that her only friend was the little pink, floating plant-like digimon with which she was enjoying a picnic in the park.

Petalmon was Mika's digimon partner and only friend. She was petit yellow digimon – only half the height from Mika's knees to her feet – with a large round head and a pair of small red button-eyes; the rest of her body together was half the size of her head and comprised of small fingerless stubby hands and toeless feet, with her torso and hands covered by what appeared to be a pink star-shaped poncho, which was in fact a large petal. On each side of her forehead was a large red ball, with which she absorbed sunlight, protruding upwards from her forehead was a large pink petal and four more large pink petals protruded from the back of heard head, creating the appearance of two pairs of petal wings.

"Did you like the brownies?" Mika asked as Petal finished another of the chocolate brownies Mika had baked for the picnic.

"Ye-es," Petalmon muttered her approval between bites of the pastry; she then wiped the chocolate from the corner of her mouth. "You've outdone yourself, Mika."

"Thanks," Mika blushed; she had never been good at accepting compliments and was far too modest. "I tried something different with the icing this time, I'm glad you liked them." Mika then looked down at her watch, "It's getting pretty late, we'd better head home." She and Petalmon started packing their things when Mika noticed something strange in the distance. "Hey, Petalmon, what do you think that is?"

Petalmon looked in the direction of Mika's gaze and gasped as a bright white light filled the evening sky and the air around it rippled. "It looks like a digi-port."

"Are you sure? It's coming from the beach," Mika remembered her brother saying that he, Isis, JT and their digimon partners would be at the beach that evening. "Do you think Trey and his friends are doing that?"

"I don't know what's happening but whatever it is I feel like it's calling me to it."

"I'm scared, Petalmon," Mika whimpered. "What if my brother's in trouble?"

"Let's check it out, at least if your brother needs us then we'll be there, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Petalmon reasoned trying to sound confident in order to reassure Mika. Petalmon hovered in the direction of the light and Mika hesitantly followed behind her, clutching the picnic basket tightly; it was all she could do to keep herself from turning around and running home where she was sure it was safe. But there was always the possibility that her brother was in trouble and if she could help she would; she'd just have to try to put aside her fear.

It was a short walk from the park to the beach and an even shorter walk to the spot where Trey and his friends stood staring at the figure, shrouded in darkness, that moved was emerging from the portal.

"Mika, what are you doing here?" Trey's voice was thick with concern, he had no idea what was happening but he knew that he didn't want his sister getting involved in any of it as it could be dangerous.

"Petalmon and I were in the park when we saw this light," she explained, barely able to tear her gaze away from the light, "I knew you'd be here so I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Go home, Mika, I have no idea what that thing is and I don't want you getting hurt."

"No one is going anywhere," the silhouette spoke, his voice deep and gravely with threateningly playful quality to it. Finally the figure was completely out of the portal and now towered over the teenagers and their digimon friends, all of whose eyes were wide with fear as they stared back at the figure. "The more the merrier."

The being that stepped out of the portal appeared to be a giant black tyrannosaurus with red markings all over its body and large green wedges protruding from down its back to the point where its long powerful tail began. The creature licked its lips suggestively; revealing a set of threateningly sharp incisors, second in size only to the two enormous claws on each of the beasts bandaged paws. "Don't just stand there," the creature growled, "let's have ourselves some fun." With that he slashed out at Trey – who happened to be the nearest target – with the claws on his right paw. Trey, narrowly evading the attack, lost balance and fell backwards on the sand. The beast swung its claw at Trey yet again.

"HYPERDRIVE HEADBUTT!" Felizmon roared. He charged, head first, at the black dinosaur, a blue energy surrounding his entire form. The small puppy-kangaroo digimon head butted the creature's claw away from its intended target. "RUN!" Trey and the others didn't need to be told twice and set off at a swift pace, the dinosaur digimon following closely behind them.

"What is that thing?" Mika breathed heavily as they desperately sprinted away from their dark assailant.

It was Bichomon who replied, as his small dragonfly wings beat faster than ever. "That's DarkTyrannomon."

"We're never going to be able to outrun him!" JT dared to steal a glance backwards, only to see that the dinosaur digimon was gaining on them. "He's too fast."

"What else can we do?" Isis snapped; the only alternative was to stand and fight the creature and that, to her, seemed just as futile.

"We can't possibly defeat that thing," the tremble in Mika's voice betrayed not only her fear but also her fatigue; she wouldn't be able to run at this pace for much further.

Suddenly Felizmon stopped running and turned to face DarkTyrannomon who stopped his chase, intrigued by the blue digimon's boldness. "We at least have to try!" Felizmon roared and charged at the dinosaur, blue energy forming around him as he prepared to deliver another Hyperdrive Headbutt.

"Iron Tail!" DarkTyrannomon swatted Felizmon away with a swing of his powerful tail. Felizmon thrown was hurled a couple feet backward, luckily the sand broke his fall. The black dinosaur stalked towards the fallen digimon.

"BUZZ STINGER!"

"WHIPLASH!"

"SEED BLAST!"

DarkTyrannomon stumbled backward as three sets of attacks connected against its hardened torso. He was struck by a stinger – which Bichomon had shot at him like a missile – a barrage of exploding seeds from Petalmon's mouth and by Chattemon's pink antennae-like protrusions, which the cat digimon wielded like a whip.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" DarkTyrannomon roared as he regained his balance; their attacks had done little to no damage, and left the dark digimon unscathed. "Fire Blast!" the dinosaur digimon growled before breathing a stream of flames at the smaller digimon and their human partners. The group scattered, barely avoiding the blast.

"What're we going to do, there's no way we can beat this guy, he's too powerful," Isis struggled to get to her feet.

"Yeah, this isn't looking good at all," Bichomon grumbled as he nursed a damaged wing. "Look what he's done to my wing?"

"Razor Blade Tail Whip!" Felizmon attempted yet another attack against the smirking dinosaur, this time he struck at it with the arrowhead-like tip of his tail. At the sometime Bichomon launched another of his tail stingers at DarkTyrannomon, while Chattemon performed another Whiplash. The combined attacks barely fazed DarkTyrannomon who now advanced on the helpless group.

"I'm going to try to distract him while the rest of you try to get away from here," Trey said loud enough so only his friends and sister could hear. This plan of action was met with a flood of protest, which Trey stopped with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Look, there's no point all of us putting our lives at risk, I can at least try to lead him away so the rest of you can get help from my parents and their other digidestined friends."

"I'll stay with you, Trey," JT announced, his determined expression concealed his fear.

"No," Trey shook his head, "you're going to need to protect Isis and my sister; anyway Felizmon will be with me." JT opened his mouth to protest but was abruptly interrupted as the group dodged yet another burst of the dinosaur digimon's Fire Blast. "Go!" Trey ordered. As the others sprinted towards the staircase that led to the beach exit, Trey and Felizmon shared an encouraging glance; neither of them expected that things would end well for them but they also knew that what they were doing was to protect the ones they loved. Without exchanging words, the pair sprinted in the opposite direction from their friends, while taunting the giant dinosaur to draw its attention. "C'mon ugly, hit me with your best shot!" "I've seen Numemon that look and smell better than you, pal!" "Did someone beat you with an ugly stick while you were still a digi-egg?"

DarkTyrannomon stalked towards Trey and Felizmon, licking his sharp canines as he imagined what tasty meals they would make. As he neared the pair, its attention was averted by a cry of pain bellowed from behind him; he tore his attention away from Trey and Felizmon and now advanced on Mika who had tripped on a semi-concealed rock in her haste to leave the beach, she now lay writhing in pain while clutching her bleeding knee. Her eyes widened as she realized that she was now the target of the dark dinosaur.

"Mika! No!" Trey shouted and sprinted towards his felled sister, Felizmon bounding after him.

"FIRE BLAST!" DarkTyrannomon unleashed a burst of fire more intense than any he had before. Mika was silenced as she watched the flames careening towards her, paralyzed by her fear.

"MIKA!" Trey roared and dove in front of his sister, hoping to shield her from the blast with his own body.

As the flames connected with the ground a massive cloud of sand exploded into the air, obscuring everyone's visibility.

JT fell to his knees, his face a palette of rage, pain, grief; he couldn't believe that his best friend of 17 years was gone. Tears streamed from Isis' eyes as she leaned against a large boulder in the sand, to stop herself from falling in despair. Petalmon, Bichomon and Chattemon were also in tears as their friends – and partner – were incinerated. DarkTyrannomon smirked as he turned towards the grieving humans and digimon and moved towards them. "Don't cry, you'll be joining your friends soon enough," he taunted.

"I'm afraid you're not quite finished with us yet."

DarkTyrannomon and the remaining humans and digimon turned to the now settling cloud of sand, where three silhouettes were visible. As the sand cloud finally cleared Trey could be seen crouching over a frightened but otherwise unharmed Mika, while Felizmon resolutely stood in front of the pair; evidently he had absorbed the blast. The dark digimon and their friends gasped in wide-eyed surprise, not only at the fact that the three had survived the attack seemingly unharmed but also at the fact that Felizmon was surrounded by an intense white light as was the circular device nestled in Trey's right palm.

"It can't be!" JT and DarkTyrannomon gasped; where JT's sharp of intake breath revealed a mixture of awe and anticipation, the dinosaur's betrayed his apprehension.

Trey grinned, he's parents had told him stories of this happening but he'd never expected to experience it for himself. Instinctively, he wasted no time in thrusting his right hand into the air as the glow surrounding his digivice intensified. "FELIZMON!" he cried, a surreal energy coursing through him, "DIGIVOLVE!"

**(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)**

So there you have it, the end of the very first installment of my very first fanfic, hope you liked it. There wasn't much in terms of plot and character development in this chapter as it's still early days and everything will unravel in time. Sorry about the way the chapter ended, I still have some kinks to work out in the battle that ensues so I wanted to leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger…now maybe you'll be eager to read the next chapter.

Oohh, please feel free to review, I'd love to know what you guys think about the story and how it can be improved; so feel free to comment about what's hot and what's not. I know it's still early days but any bit of criticism (no matter how small) could help make this story something special

Anywhoo till next time, PEACE!


	2. The Birth of ShadowGaogamon

I wasn't originally going to post this chapter just yet but then I got so excited about how it went that I couldn't wait.

I'm not going to waste your time with any of my rambling, so enjoy…

**Digimon: The Fate of Two Worlds**

**Zodiac Saga**

**#2: The Birth of ShadowGaogamon**

For Blaine Mordecai Jordan the summer vacation brought with it a welcome change from his tedious routine of waking up every morning, rushing to school only to be late, sleeping through most of his classes, getting into a fight with some or other person during the lunch break, sleeping through even more classes and staying after school for a two hour session of detention. He'd been looking forward not only to spending more time with his digimon partner and best friend, ChibiLeomon, but also to being back in the Digital World. He'd spent every school vacation since he could remember exploring the Digi-world and all its wonders; he and ChibiLeomon had seen their fair share of trouble but always managed to fight their way through anything.

Blaine was a tall 16 year old African-American with a caramel complexion, clear hazel eyes and an athletic physique, despite his well-defined figure he wasn't a jock-type nor was he a gym-junkie; spending countless hours navigating his way through rugged terrain in the Digi-world and fighting humans and digimon alike provided him with an excellent work out. Blaine's most striking feature was his foot long black Mohawk down the middle of his head, while the sides were left bald. ChibiLeomon in contrast was a 2 foot tall, slightly chubby, bipedal yellow lion, with a thick golden mane, large ears and stubby limbs with petite paws; despite the diminutive stature of this digimon, its eyes held a fierceness that was not to be trifled with.

That evening the pair found themselves pacing through a swampy region of the digital world, laboring through lush, thick undergrowth as they explored yet another area of the Digi-world they were not familiar with. As the trudged tirelessly through marshland ChibiLeomon noticed the expression of concern plastered on his friend's visage. "Blaine." There was no reply, "Hey, Blaine," the lion digimon tried again, this time tugging on the human's jeans.

Blaine snapped out of his reverie and looked down at the yellow lion, not once did his pace falter. "What is it, Leo?"

"Is everything alright? You seem distracted."

Blaine's instinctive reaction would have been to lie and pretend that nothing was bothering him, but he knew it would be pointless, ChibiLeomon had a way of reading humans and digimon alike that was frighteningly accurate. "Something doesn't feel right, Leo; we've been coming to the Digi-world for years and I've never felt so out of place before, it's like there's something in the air," Blaine found it hard to explain, but a gut feeling told him that something wasn't quite right.

"I feel it too," ChibiLeomon agreed, his expression grave. "And the whisperings we overheard in market region earlier seem to suggest that perhaps not everything is as it seems."

Blaine nodded; the pair had spent the morning walking around the central market region of the Digi-world trying to overhear anything that would lead them to a new adventure, instead the gossip seemed to be more guarded than usual, all the pair had been able to gather was that a fortress of some sort had mysteriously emerged out of nowhere somewhere in this swampy region; however, the pair had been searching unsuccessfully for this fortress for over three hours.

They continued walking in silence for just under an hour and were on the verge of giving up and returning to the real world when a pair of hushed voices could be heard nearby, concealed by a veil of undergrowth. Blaine gestured for the lion digimon to follow him silently. As they neared the source of the voices they carefully peered through a small opening in the undergrowth to find an Otamamon and Gekomon deep in whispered conversation. Blaine couldn't hear everything that was been said but from the words he did hear – "fortress", "dark", "out of nowhere" – he surmised that the topic of their conversation was probably no different from those in the market region. There was a slight rustle of leaves as ChibiLeomon positioned himself to better hear what was happening; Blaine held his breath as the Otamamon suddenly became tense and glanced in their direction; they were discovered.

To Gekomon's confusion the tadpole digimon couldn't get away from him fast enough, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end. "Hey, what's up with you?" Gekomon called to the fleeing Otamamon, who now disappeared in a cluster of shrubs. "Weird," Gekomon whispered to himself before setting off after the tadpole. Before the amphibian digimon could take another step, he felt a pair of hands firmly clasp his shoulders, restricting any further movement. "Hey, what's the big idea?" the musical digimon demanded.

"You and you're friend were talking about the fortress that appeared out of nowhere right?" Blaine asked, turning Gekomon to face him.

"What's it to you?"

"We need your help finding this fortress; do you know where it is?"

"If I did why would I tell you?"

Blaine nodded slightly in ChibiLeomon's direction; as if on cue, the small lion bared his teeth aggressively, revealing a set of razor sharp incisors. "My friend over there hasn't eaten all day," Blaine lied; a threatening quality darkened his features. "He'd greatly appreciate your help; you want to keep him happy don't you?" Gekomon nodded furiously. "Well then will you take us to this fortress?"

"Y-yes," Gekomon gulped. "Erh…right this way."

**(-o-)**

"FELIZMON!" Trey cried, a surreal energy coursing through him, "DIGIVOLVE!"

A column of light shot out of Trey's glowing digivice and into the night sky temporarily filling the air with a warm glow as the light show dissipated, Felizmon's form grew as his body changed. At that moment the connection between Trey and Felizmon intensified as they shared each others' energy, feeding off each other's strength; Trey realized that this power that was now coursing through him came from Felizmon. He'd never felt anything quite like it before, it was so pure yet so potent, filling him with an alluring warmth, all he could was bask in it. In that moment he stripped of all fear, only one thing lingered in his mind and that was to give Felizmon everything he had, channeling not only his energy to the digimon but also part of his soul.

"Felizmon digivolve to…SHADOWGAOGAMON!"

The digimon that now stood before DarkTyrannomon was not a puppy-kangaroo rookie; instead it was a large wolf digimon, majestic and imposing. This new quadruped was covered in a thin coat of blue fur, the front half of the digimon, including its front limbs was covered in a further coat of thick black fur, save for its face and ears; its rear and the top portion of its hind limbs were coated with the same black fur, leaving only its middle region and the lower portion of his hind legs blue. The wolf creature sported a long thin black tail, on the tip of which was a golden four edged-star. The creature glared at DarkTyrannomon, its eyes, a mixture of blood red and bright gold, sized up the dark digimon. When he spoke his voice was firm, commanding respect, in contrast to Felizmon's slightly high-pitched, boyish tone. "It would be wise of you to stand down while you still have the chance, DarkTyrannomon."

The dinosaur digimon shook himself out of his temporary paralysis; despite the fact that the digimon before him, on all fours, was now the significantly larger than his human partner DarkTyrannomon would not be intimidated. "Your threats are empty! Fire Blast!"

A column of flames sprang towards ShadowGaogamon; upon contact with the ground a cloud of sand exploded into the air. However, when the cloud cleared no one was to be seen.

"Too slow," the wolf digimon smirked from behind the dark dinosaur. DarkTyrannomon whirred around to face ShadowGaogamon, fear evident in his eyes as he breathlessly mouthed the word _"How?"_

"Darkness is my domain," ShadowGaogamon explained stepping towards his adversary. "Night time is when I thrive…" he paused, seemingly savoring the fear that DarkTyrannomon was inadvertently exuding. "You're in my domain now." With that he leaped at the dinosaur digimon, attempting to slash at him; DarkTyrannomon, narrowly evaded the attack, retaliating with another burst of flames. The wolf digimon was moving so fast that it appeared not to have even touched the ground before leaping into the air again, escaping the dinosaur's fiery attack. High in the the sky, ShadowGaogamon was but a silhouette on the surface of the silver moon. "STELLAR BARRAGE!" the shadow wolf unleashed a volley of bright stars from its now glowing tail star. As each star connected DarkTyrannomon howled in pain and collapsed to his knees, throwing his tail in front of him to shield him from the onslaught.

From the sidelines, Trey and his friends cheered their newly digivolved friend, who seemed to have the upper hand. "Felizmon is so cool!" JT gazed at the shadow wolf in awe. "He's really kicking some butt out there."

Trey grinned, "You mean ShadowGaogamon; yeah, he's really something."

As ShadowGaogamon finally landed, he rooted his feet into the sand as he prepared for another attack; he wasn't about to let DarkTyrannomon regain composure. "Supersonic Howl!" the wolf's howl rippled through air as a supersonic force wave crashed against the dinosaur sending him sprawling backward into the sand.

DarkTyrannomon shakily climbed to his feet, he knew he had lost but he would fight till he took his dying breath. "Fire Blast!" this burst of flames was substantially weaker than the others, ShadowGaogamon evaded it with ease.

"Let us finish this," the shadow digimon's tail star's glow grew brighter, washing the entire area with a bright glow. "LUNAR MADNESS!" a powerful burst of golden light was unleashed from his tail star, ripping through the night air at DarkTyrannomon. Upon collision, the light tore apart the flesh of the dinosaur digimon, leaving nothing but digital data in its wake.

DarkTyrannomon did not shout in pain, he merely whispered three simple words, loud enough for the teenagers and their digimon friends to hear. "More shall come."

"You were awesome," Trey said running towards the dark wolf and engulfing him in a tight embrace as he reverted to his rookie form, too exhausted to maintain champion level. "I'm so proud of you Felizmon."

"We've been trying to digivolve our digimon for ages," JT thought aloud," how come it's only now it decides to work?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Isis stated matter-of-factly. "Up until now we've never really been in a situation where we've needed the digimon to digivolve."

Mika who up until now had been paralyzed with fear finally spoke, "What do you think DarkTyrannomon meant when he said 'more shall come'?" The digidestined and digimon stared at each other, clearly no one had a satisfactory answer. "Do you think we should be worried?"

Trey finally released his digimon partner and looked reassuringly to his sister, "We've got nothing to worry about," he beamed as his gaze shifted to Felizmon before returning to his sister, "because now we've got ShadowGaogamon on our side."

"Still," Bichomon's tone was grave, "perhaps it would prudent of us to be prepared in case more powerful digimon than DarkTyrannomon do manage to enter the real world; it's not every day that a digi-port opens in the middle of nowhere."

"True," Isis agreed. "I think maybe we should tell your parents, Trey. I'll also tell me half-sister, Maria; they're digidestined so maybe they can shed some light on what's going on." The others nodded their agreement.

"You're right," Trey said, leading the group away from the beach, "I don't know why but every bone in my body is screaming out that something big is about to happen."

**(-o-)**

As Trey, Mika, Felizmon and Petalmon sauntered through the doorway of the Tachikawa-Washington mansion, Felizmon and Petalmon followed Mika to the large kitchen; the whole journey home Felizmon had been griping about how hungry he was. Trey moved into the video conferencing room. The mansion was smaller than one might expect for the home of one of the world's most popular A-list celebrity couples. The Tachikawa-Washingtons led a relatively conservative lifestyle; Michael had sworn that when he had kids he wouldn't make the same parenting mistakes his father had made, the worst of which was giving in to the temptations of the Hollywood lifestyle – a garage full of cars no one would ever drive but merely admire; a house so big there were rooms no one even knew about; impromptu trips halfway across the world, leaving very little time to spend with his children. However, certain things could not be helped; at that moment Michael was in New Zealand shooting his latest movie, _**Highland Hustle**_ while Mimi was promoting the launch of her new cook book in England, leaving Trey and Mika alone with the hired staff.

The video conferencing room was plainly decorated with only a large round polished mahogany table in the middle of the room surrounding by half a dozen chairs, against the wall on the far side of the room were three flat screens, the one in the centre was the largest of the three, extending over half the height and width of the wall against which it was mounted, the other two screens were a quarter of the height and width of the large screen.

"Computer, dial mom and dad," Trey spoke slowly and clearly into a flat black microphone built into the middle of the table.

"Voice identification confirmed," the mechanized voice of the computer sounded from the wall speakers. "Dialing Mimi Tachikawa-Washington…Dialing Michael Tachikawa-Washington." This was followed by a loud beeping sound as the computer connected to Trey's parents phones. "Connection confirmed." The side screens flickered on of their own accord. On the left screen an older blonde man appeared, his shoulder length blonde hair was wavy and his eyes were the same shade of blue as both Trey's and Mika's. The background of the image displayed on the screen suggested that he was currently located near a mountainous region. On the right screen came the image of a "jaw-droppingly" beautiful middle-aged woman, with long auburn locks and chocolate brown eyes; the backdrop of this image showed her to be in a cozy looking bookshop.

"Trey, is everything okay?" Mimi's voice was immediately filled with panic; Trey rarely called her when she was away except if it was an emergency.

"Yeah, mom, everything is fine…" he paused rethinking what he had just said, "…sort of."

"Well what's up, son?" Michael had to speak loudly so his voice was drowned out by the sounds of a busy production crew in the background. "

"A digi-port appeared out of thin air earlier at the beach," Trey explained. "A DarkTyrannomon came through; luckily my friends and I were there and luckily Felizmon was able to digivolve before any real harm was caused."

"Felizmon digivolved? Good for you, son," Michael congratulated; he knew how much his son had wanted the blue rookie digimon to finally become a champion level digimon. His expression then turned grave. "Digi-ports don't usually appear out of thin air though, especially not ones sending dangerous digimon through."

Mimi nodded in agreement. "Yes, it seems very strange. The important thing however is that no one was hurt."

"No one was hurt, mom. What should we do about the digi-port though; if something's going on we should surely find out what it is."

"True, you should –" Mimi cut Michael off midsentence.

"No one is going to do anything," her tone was firm. "It was probably just an isolated event, nothing to worry about. In any case I won't have you putting your life in needless danger, you're lucky Felizmon was able to digivolve but next time – if there is a next time - that might not be enough."

"I can't just do nothing, mom."

"You can and you will, Trey Ryu Tachikawa-Washington. Do I make myself clear?"

Trey opened his mouth to protest but restrained himself as he knew he was fighting a losing battle; nothing he could say would make his mother change her mind. "Yes, mom," he mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Good. I'm sorry but I have to go, love, but tell your sister I love and miss her. Bye." With that Mimi's screen flickered off.

"Well I guess I should be going too, dad," Trey was about to order the computer to disconnect the call when he noticed a very familiar sly grin plastered on his father's face; this was the expression he always had just before he did something that he knew Mimi wouldn't approve of. "What is it, dad?"

"Look, if there's something going on it'll be better for us to know what we're dealing with. Go onto the digidestined forum and find out if any other digidestined have had similar experiences; gather as much information as you can but don't do anything rash and more importantly make sure your mother doesn't know," Michael beamed at his son. "You're a digidestined, Trey, trust your instincts and do what comes naturally to you. Say 'hi' to Mika for me."

"Will do, dad. Thanks for the help." The image on the left screen flickered off. Trey stared at the blank screens, his mind a jumble of thoughts as he tried to comprehend the significance of what had happened that evening and what it could possibly mean. His father was right, he would need to gather more information, the problem was that the digidestined forum was time consuming and cumbersome, he would have to read all the replies he received which would only have wasted time and there was no telling when or where another digi-port might materialize next; but Trey knew someone who would be able to gather information from the digidestined forum within minutes, in fact she was the current administrator of the forum, taking over from her father, who happened to be one of Mimi's friends. "Computer, dial Lee Izumi."

**(-o-)**

"Was Maria able to help?" Chattemon asked as Isis, who had been on the phone with her older half-sister, Maria, for the last fifteen minutes, hung up the phone. The pair were seated on Isis' bed in her average sized room, the walls of which were purple and adorned with posters, not of boy bands or male movie stars, but rather of strong female figures throughout the ages; these were the women Isis aspired to be like when she was older.

Isis slumped backward so she was now staring up at the ceiling. "No, she's never seen anything like it happen since Cherrymon and the other rogue digimon attacked Rockefeller Centre, so she knew nothing. I always thought Centarumon were supposed to know everything."

"Well what do we do now?"

"Let's just hope Trey's parents are more helpful than my half-sister."

"Are you scared?"

Isis thought for a moment before answering. "Not scared, just a little anxious; I don't like not knowing what's happening especially with something like this, I mean it's not every day a DarkTyrannomon pops up at the beach and attacks you. We can't be sure if there's more to it and that it's that uncertainty that bothers me."

Chattemon curled up next Isis. "Did you see Trey and Felizmon out there today; they were so brave, I'm sure they won't let anything really bad happen especially now that Felizmon can digivolve."

"Yeah Trey and Felizmon were really impressive," there was a barely noticeable change to Isis' tone when she mentioned Trey's name – but a change nevertheless. "But ShadowGaogamon may not always be there to save the day, Chat."

"Do you think I can digivolve?"

"I hope so; if Felizmon can do it then so should you…but only when you're ready," Isis was a pacifist and sought to avoid violence whenever it was possible so she was in no hurry for her little Chattemon, who she loved dearly, to digivolve and she was in even less of a hurry to have Chattemon fight or maybe even kill any other living creature; but Isis knew if there was no other way she would want Chattemon to do what had to be done, she'd just have to find a way to get over her hang-ups. The two sat in silence; Chattemon, thinking about what it must be like to finally digivolve, while Isis pondered how far she might be willing to go to protect those she most cared about.

At that moment Isis' cellphone, which sat on her bedside table, began to vibrate as a popular tune shattered the silence. Isis reached for her phone. "It's a message from Trey" Isis informed Chattemon. "He wants us all to meet tomorrow morning in the park to discuss what happened today; he thinks we'll be able to think more clearly about what happened once we've gotten some sleep and have had a chance to get over the initial shock of it all."

"Do you think he'll be able to answer some of our questions tomorrow?"

Isis put the phone back onto the bedside table and gently stroked Chattemon's fur; this simple act always seemed to make her feel more at ease whenever something was, unfortunately for her stroking her friend would not distract her from her gut feeling of foreboding. "I sure hope so, Chattemon…I really do."

**(-o-)**

Gekomon led Blaine and ChibiLeomon through swampland with the precision of one who had was intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of the region; he could accurately estimate every turn to be made, despite the absence of a visible path, he predicted correctly the thickness and volume of undergrowth the trio would have labor their way through and his knowledge of the shortcuts significantly reduced the amount of ground that had to be covered. The trio had not been walking for more than an hour when Gekomon gestured for them to stop; from the uneasy expression the frog digimon wore Blaine deduced that they had finally reached their destination. Over the course of the journey Blaine had noticed the subtle shift in the atmosphere as they neared the dark fortress; the constant hum and buzz of the inhabitants of the swamp died away, the air, which at first was stiflingly hot, was now so cold he could see his own breath and there was something sinister in the air that cast a sense of foreboding over all those who dared venture in close proximity to the fortress.

"This is where I say goodbye," Gekomon whispered, looking around shiftily as if expecting something to jump out from the undergrowth and attack them. Blaine allowed the amphibious digimon to scamper back the way they had come, he say no point to forcing him to stay when being near the fortress seemed to traumatize him.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Leo," Blaine drew in a deep breath, anticipation and uncertainty washing over him. He slowly parted the dense underbrush and stepped onto the edge of a steep incline; half way down the ascent was a vast expanse of black water. In the distance was an island, large enough only to support a fortress made entirely of darkened stone. The structure was about fifteen storey's high and resembled a castle straight out of a fairytale except it was not bursting with bright colors and the pleasant hum of the inhabitants, instead it was deathly quiet and darkened the atmosphere surrounding it.

"Who do you think lives there?" ChibiLeomon asked as he too stepped onto the edge of the incline and gazed at the morbid structure.

"No idea…" Blaine trailed off as he noticed movement on the balcony at the topmost storey of the fortress; a lone humanoid figure leaned against the railing of the balcony. The figure was clearly masculine though his general posture was somewhat feminine and theatrical; his red and green attire was similar to that of a court jester from the Elizabethan era, further adding to the jester theme was his face paint; the right half of his visage was painted in black while the left was painted white.

"Who is he?" Blaine strained his eyes and craned his neck to get a clearer look at the digimon atop the fortress; he could not be sure but it appeared as though the jester digimon glanced back at him with a knowing smirk on his face. ChibiLeomon's loud gasp unnerved Blaine. "What? What is it? Do you know who he is?"

ChibiLeomon nodded slowly without averting his gaze from the digimon on the fortress. "But it can't be…th-they defeated him…"

"Who defeated him? What are you talking about? Who is he?"

The little lion digimon finally tore his eyes away from the fortress and looked up to his digidestined partner. Blaine was slightly taken aback; never had he seen such fear on his friend's face, this left his mind racing as to what could have had such a profound effect on ChibiLeomon.

ChibiLeomon's face contorted, as though it was physically painful for him to speak the name of this mysterious jester, "Piedmon."

**(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)(-o-)**

Okay, so there you have it, the second installment is complete…confused as to the plot and what's happening? Don't worry everything is going to become clearer over the next couple of chapters.

**Yusho MinChao:** Thanks so much for taking the time to read this story, I really appreciate it. I'm glad you thought it went well. Your critique made a lot of sense; it was something that I was of two minds about so I'm glad to see what you thought about it – less is more when it comes to character sketches I guess. You mentioned that there weren't a lot of mistakes…do you think you could direct me to the mistakes that were there (if they were grammatical etc). I'll be extra careful not to over describe any future characters I introduce (leave a little to the reader's imagination).

Until then PEACE, LOVE, and MORE TOLERANCE!


	3. Plan of Action

**Digimon: The Fate of Two Worlds**

**Zodiac Saga**

**#3: Plan of Action**

In response to the message Trey had texted the previous evening, six humans and six digimon were gathered in Red Wood Park just before noon that day. Isis sat on a bench at the top of a slope leading down to a small pond while Chattemon sat at her feet; Mika was seated with her legs crossed on the grass with Petalmon nestled in her lap; above Isis, JT was perched on the branch of a large tree under which the bench was positioned while Bichomon fluttered in the sky beside him; Trey stood beside the tree on which JT sat, his back to the pond, Felizmon at his side.

On the bench, sitting beside Isis was an attractive blonde girl, no older than sixteen years of age, with light blue eyes and a physique which suggested she was most probably a cheerleader; Shi'anne Sutton-Clarke, was indeed a cheerleader at the same school which the others attended and happened to be in the same grade as Mika and Blaine. On the surface she was your stereotypical cheerleader type; rich, spoilt, superficial, obsessed with fashion trends and an excessive shopper, but lurking beneath the surface perhaps there was more to her than even she was aware. At her side, perched on the back of the bench, was her digimon partner, Fledgemon; a round red bird, no bigger than a basketball, with a pair of petit wings and a long thin tail the tip of which bore a small cluster of red tail feathers.

Beside Mika, on the grass, sat another teenage girl; this one was a thirteen year old, clad in boyish attire. She had straight black hair that stopped just above her shoulder and her eyes had a similar shape to JT's, except, where JT's eyes were a dark shade of brown hers was a clear green. Being the youngest of the latest generation of American digidestined, Ashley Franks, JT's cousin, always felt the need to prove herself to the others; this meant that Ashley – more often than not – found herself in some or other kind of trouble. Porcemon, Ashley's best friend, simply put, was small light blue hippopotamus calfwith stubby limbs, a small tail and floppy ears.

"So you're saying that DarkTyrannomon came through the digi-port which appeared from thin air, and Felizmon had to digivolve to defeat it?" Shi'anne paraphrased what Trey and the others had just told her and Ashley; she seemed to be having a hard time accepting what they were telling her. Since even before she could remember, she and Fledgemon had always been together so digimon were always a part of her life, but never in her sixteen years of living had she ever been involved in or even seen digimon fight; the idea made her feel a little uncomfortable. Those that had been present when DarkTyrannomon attacked nodded in confirmation of Shi'anne's summation of what had happened.

"Do you think more will come?" Ashley asked with a little more excitement than the situation warranted.

"We can't be sure," Trey explained, "I spoke to Lee Izumi last night, apparently no other digidestined in the world has experienced anything similar."

"Doesn't that suggest that it's an isolated event?" Trey's news seemed to bring Isis hope that they would not have to fight again like they had the night before.

"Possibly," Trey's expression betrayed the fact that he was unconvinced that the event would remain unrepeated. "But just in case it wasn't a once-off thing I think we need to be ready for any future attacks."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Bichomon asked.

"Well I was hoping Blaine would be here; he and I could go into the Digi-world to find Benjamin; if anyone will be able to tell us what's happening, it'll _him_."

"Benjamin? You mean that guy who mom always mistakenly calls Gennai?" up until now Mika had not spoken. Trey nodded while giving Mika a reassuring look; he knew she wouldn't like the idea of him going off into the Digi-world as she'd always thought it was a dangerous place.

"That guy's cute," Shi'anne thought out loud, "I want to come with you."

"I'm not going into the Digi-world to socialize with him, Shi'anne; this is serious."

"You guys might need backup; I'll–" before JT could suggest joining him in the Digi-world, Trey cut him off.

"Blaine and I should be enough; he's got an excellent knowledge of the Digi-world so he'll be able to find Benjamin easily and he'll also probably know which areas to avoid going through in order to stay out of any kind of trouble. Anyway, both ChibiLeomon and Felizmon can digivolve so we should be able to hold our own. Everyone else should stay in this world just in case there's a repeat of last night's events."

"That sucks," Ashley frowned. "I was looking forward to going to the Digi-world for the first time."

"Maybe some other time," Porcemon's tone betrayed his relief; he'd only ever been in the real world and had only heard scary stories of what it was like in the Digi-world. In contrast to Ashley, who was always fearlessly hunting down the next big adventure, Porcemon scared easily which in a strange way was why they were perfectly suited for one another – they balanced each other out.

"When are you going to go?" Mika asked; Trey's attempts at reassuring her did little to ease her concern.

"As soon as possible," the speaker was not one of the twelve already gathered on and around the park bench. The group turned simultaneously to see Blaine and ChibiLeomon approaching where they sat, grim expressions darkened both their features. "Your half-sister, Maria, told my uncle Phil what happened and he told me," he directed this explanation to Isis.

"Good so we don't have to waste time filling you in," Trey stated.

"No, but there's more to whatever's going on than you think," Blaine explained, leaning against the back of the bench. "I was in the Digi-world yesterday. There were whisperings about some dark tower appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a swamp region so ChibiLeomon and I decided to check it out." His audience seemed to be clinging to every word he spoke. "The fortress belongs to Piedmon."

"Piedmon? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Trey thought out loud.

"Mom told us about him," Mika said remembering the stories her mom had told her and Trey about when she was a young girl trapped in the Digi-world with her friends and their digimon partners. "Piedmon was one of four evil mega level digimon; I think she called them the Dark Masters. But how can he own the fortress? One of my mom's friend's digimon defeated him."

"That's what I thought too," ChibiLeomon seemed just as confused as Mika and the others. "But we saw him with our own eyes; there's no denying that he's back."

"I'm not liking this at all," Porcemon whimpered.

Ashley rolled her eyes at the timid hippopotamus digimon. "If he was defeated before, he can be defeated again."

"Do you think he's somehow connected to DarkTyrannomon's attack yesterday?" Isis spoke, racking her brains for any clear connections between the re-emergence of the jester digimon and the attack at the beach but not finding any.

"I don't know for sure, but it's possible," Blaine's answered. "Even if he isn't connected to the digi-port opening at the beach, he might still be up to something; a bad guy that was thought to be defeated doesn't mysteriously show up years later and not want some kind of revenge."

Trey, who had been silently processing everything he was hearing finally spoke. "Okay, so Blaine, ChibiLeomon, Felizmon and I will go to the Digi-world later today; we'll check out this dark fortress and try to find Benjamin. Once we have a better idea of what we're dealing with we'll all meet again and decide what our next move will be."

"It is strange how all of this is happening to us," Bichomon mused aloud. "I mean major things like this usually always happen to the Odaiba digidestined."

"We don't know for sure if what's going on is major," Trey reminded him; this was also his way of letting the others know that as of yet there was nothing to panic about. "Let's first get all the facts before we start jumping to conclusions." The others nodded their agreement, though they all shared the same gut feeling that something big was about to happen and it wasn't going to be good. The group finalized their plans, said their goodbyes then dispersed; only Trey, Felizmon, Isis and Chattemon remained. As Felizmon and Chattemon ran down the slope to play near the pond – in order to give Trey and Isis a little privacy – Trey took a seat next to Isis, both of them staring into the distance; lost in thought.

Isis was the one to break the silence. "Are you scared?"

Trey thought for a moment. "No, not really," he answered truthfully. "I know I probably should be a little nervous, I mean we don't really know what we're dealing with; it could be dangerous…but whatever happens as long as the ones I care about are safe, there'll be nothing for me to be scared of." He tentatively reached out for Isis's hand which rested on her lap, and wrapped his fingers around hers. "You don't have to worry."

"How can you say that? We almost didn't survive yesterday's attack, Trey! If Felizmon didn't digivolve who knows –"

"But he _did_ digivolve, and we _did_ survive; there's no point worrying about what could have happened 'if this' or 'if that'. My mom always says 'everything happens for a reason'; there's a reason we survived, there's a reason Felizmon digivolved and there's a reason all of this stuff is happening, we just don't know what it is yet."

"Will you promise me something, Trey?"

"What is it?"

"Promise me you'll be careful when you go to the Digi-world; that you'll come back to us in one piece."

Trey gently squeezed her hand comfortingly. "I promise." Isis rested her head against his shoulder as the pair gazed at the pond in silence. In that intimate moment they both knew that what they shared had developed beyond friendship. Trey knew he'd keep his promise, he'd never been more sure of anything in his life; he now had one more reason to get home safely.

**(-o-)**

"Are we there yet?" Shi'anne groaned impatiently for the third time that afternoon as she and Fledgemon trailed behind Ashley and Porcemon. Ashley had told Shi'anne about a new clothing shop she'd apparently heard about and had convinced the blonde cheerleader to visit it with her. The foursome had only been walking for less than ten minutes and already Shi'anne was beginning to regret her decision. "If I have to take another step I swear I'll turn around and –"

"Okay, okay relax, Shi," Ashley interjected. "We're here; voila!" the pair were standing in front of small, dimly lit internet café.

"This isn't a trendy clothing shop," Shi'anne was confused.

"Okay…so I lied, but this is even better."

"How is this better?" Shi'anne snapped, she was now seriously annoyed. "I only came with you because you said we were going to a new clothing shop, if I had known we were coming to some lame internet café – probably filled with nerds and losers – I would never have come!"

"I know you wouldn't have come; that's exactly why I had to lie."

"I should have just trusted my instincts. If any kind of trendy shop really had opened up _I_ would be the first to know about it! Let's go to the mall, Fledgemon."

Before Shi'anne could turn to leave, Ashley tugged pleadingly on her arm. "C'mon, Shi, look I'm the only digidestined that hasn't been to the Digi-world yet and you said you wanted to go earlier."

"I only wanted to go because Benjamin is cute; but come to think of it he's not _that_ cute."

"Oh, I never realized you were scared," Ashley taunted.

"I'm not scared!" now Shi'anne was fuming. Ashley concealed a smirk; she knew she had struck a nerve. "Fine let's go to the Digi-world!"

"Are you sure that's such a wise idea?" Porcemon had been hoping Shi'anne would talk Ashley out of this latest plan of hers.

"Oh c'mon, Porcemon, it'll be fine," she led Shi'anne and the digimon into the internet café. Shi'anne had been right; more than half the people in the café wore spectacles and looked like the type that spent countless hours sitting in front of their computers playing online games.

"Let's hurry up and open a digi-port, I can't have anyone seeing me here," Shi'anne griped as she and Ashley made their way to a vacant computer situated near the back of the café, where they would not be disturbed and no one would see them; sure the world accepted the existence of digimon, but seeing a pair of girls and their digimon getting sucked into a computer would be too bizarre for anybody to fathom.

"You ready?" Ashley asked as she directed her digivice at the computer monitor; a window popped up on the screen.

"Let's just do this already," Shi'anne also pointed her digivice at the computer screen.

"Digi-port open!" the pair cried in unison. A bright light emanated from the computer screen, engulfing the two humans and their digimon companions and drawing them into the monitor; not even a second later, the light had faded and the area which the foursome had occupied was now empty.

A spectacled, acne plagued pre-teen who had happened to wonder by stood – jaw hanging open – in awe at what he had just witnessed. "Woah!"

**(-o-)**

It had only taken under an hour for Blaine and ChibiLeomon to lead Trey and Felizmon through the swamp region to the incline which bordered the black sea they had been to the previous evening.

"Okay so where's this mysterious dark fortress? Unless I need my eyes checked I'd say it's not there."

Blaine frowned, confused; Trey was right, the island, the fortress, Piedmon, everything was gone even the sea was no longer black but instead a murky green. "I swear it was here yesterday."

"Maybe we took a wrong turn."

Blaine knew this wasn't a possibility; he'd memorized every step of the way and every possible landmark the evening before. The glare he shot Trey clearly expressed his annoyance at Trey's lack of faith in his prowess.

"Okay fine!" Trey said defensively. "But how do you explain a whole island disappearing? Fortresses don't just get up and go."

"Are you forgetting where you are? This is the Digital World…anything is possible." The foursome whirred around sharply in the direction of the speaker only to be met by the rustling of a small shrub.

"Who's there?" Felizmon tried sniffing the air for any clues as to who had spoken. There was no reply, just continued rustling. Trey and Blaine drew their digivices from their pockets in case they would have to digivolve their digimon partners. The foursome took a tentative step forward. The rustling grew more frantic as a dwarven figure, about half Trey's height struggled through the undergrowth. The man's face was hidden behind shaggy white hair and a thick white beard; he was clad in nothing but a ragged brown cloth that extended to his bare feet and he carried a staff of about the same height as himself, the end of which was a yellow bear paw.

The foursome glanced questioningly at the hairy dwarf for a moment before Trey finally spoke. "Who're you?"

"I'm Jijimon; Benjamin told me I'd find you here."

"You know Benjamin?" ChibiLeomon asked.

Jijimon's mop of hair seemed to rustle more violently than the shrubs, a gesture the foursome understood to mean 'yes'.

"We work together," Jijimon moved past the foursome to the very edge of the incline. "Piedmon was definitely here."

"But where is he now? How could he have packed up a whole island and disappeared in less than 24 hours?" Trey proclaimed disbelievingly; with digimon in his life he'd learned to keep an open mind but there were still some things that were clearly impossible.

Jijimon looked up at him patiently, even though his eyes were not visible Trey got the impression that he was staring right into his own eyes. "Piedmon is very powerful, more powerful than he ever was; doing the seemingly impossible seems to be the jester's newest trick, his very return seems to defy the distinction between the possible and the impossible." The old man stared into the distance, consumed by his musings.

"Do you know what he's up to?" Blaine interrupted the dwarf's train of thought. "How's it possible that he's back and what is he planning?"

"We know what he is after; as for how he survived MagnaAngemon's 'Gate of destiny' and what his ultimate goal is, we can only speculate but none can truly hope to understand the twisted workings of Piedmon's mind," Jijimon turned to face the foursome. "He is after the 12 zodiac Stones, he already has two in his possession and right now he has sent digimon to the real world to track down Benjamin."

"Benjamin's in the real world?" Blaine and Trey said in unison; that means their trip to the Digi-world was for nothing.

"How do you know all of this?" Felizmon asked skeptically; one could never be too careful.

"I have the ability to see things as they happen, no matter what world they occur in. Benjamin went to the real world to find digidestined to protect the Zodiac Stone he has in his possession but Piedmon sent Gazimon and Airdramon to intercept him."

"Then we've got to get back to the real world immediately!" the urgency was thick in Trey's tone as he and the others prepared to run back to the digi-port which they had come through. Jijimon knocked his staff against the ground causing a slight tremor in the earth; it was enough to get their attention. "Benjamin and our friends need us."

"Perhaps but unfortunately they will have to survive this battle without you."

"What the hell are you saying, old man? Are you going to try to stop us?" Blaine clenched his fists, ready for a fight.

Jijimon let out a slight chuckle. "If my goal was to defeat you, all four of you would be dead by now. The reason you cannot help your friends is because you cannot leave the Digi-world."

"WHAT?" the foursome exclaimed simultaneously.

"Shortly after you entered the Digi-world the 4 Harmonious Ones sealed the divide between the Digi-world and the real world."

"What does that mean?" Trey knew the answer before he had even asked the question; however, he hoped he was wrong.

"It means no one may leave the Digital World and no one may enter the Digital World," Jijimon's expression – one could only presume judging by the tone of his voice – was grim. "In an attempt to stop Piedmon from sending any more digimon through to the real world, the Harmonious Ones sealed the divide but somehow Piedmon has counteracted their power; now only he is able to send digimon across the divide."

"How could he do that? Aren't the Harmonious Ones meant to be all powerful?" Blaine had heard tales describing the awesome might of the 4 Harmonious Ones who were the guardians of the four compass regions of the Digital World.

"That is what concerns me the most…he must be more powerful than anyone suspected."

"Can't the Harmonious Ones just unseal the divide?" Trey was getting more anxious by the second; every moment he wasted in the Digi-world meant one more moment that he wouldn't be there for his friends when they needed him the most. _I was such a fool to leave them without a digimon that could digivolve! Now they're practically defenseless!_ He mentally chastised himself for his lack of foresight and poor judgment. He had to get back to his friends, to his sister…to Isis. He'd made a promise that he intended to keep.

"Unfortunately no; Piedmon has seen to that," Jijimon sighed. "You are trapped here."

"Screw this!" Trey quickly reached into his pocket for his cellphone and texted a message as quickly as his fingers would allow him. "Hopefully I we can still communicate with the others." He knew it was a long shot but he had to try.

"Why is Piedmon doing all of this? What are these zodiac stones and why is he looking for them?" ChibiLeomon, true to form, was resigned to the fact that they were trapped in the Digi-world and was now trying to make sense their current situation.

"Follow me; I have much to tell you."

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So here's the 3rd chapter and I'm hoping things are starting to come together…but if not chapter 4 is sure to fill in the missing gaps.

Okay so this chapter wasn't incredibly exciting what with the lack of action and excessive dialogue but it had to be done to set the scene for what's to follow. I was going to fuse the content of the next chapter and this chapter into one but then I thought the chapter would be way too long. In the next chapter I hope to strike a balance between action and explanation.

TTFN…PEACE, LOVE, and MORE TOLERANCE!


	4. The Zodiac Stones

**Digimon: The Fate of Two Worlds**

**Zodiac Saga**

**#4: The Zodiac Stones**

'GAME OVER!' The words were in bold across the screen of the machine. JT, frustrated, slammed his fist against the console, not hard enough to leave any lasting impressions on the machine but with enough force to injure himself; "Shit!" he cried out in pain as he shook his hand in an attempt to wave the pain away. _**Alien Invaders**_ was the one thing he knew he was good at; in fact he'd held the high score for two years now, but that afternoon, he couldn't even get past the third round. "Stupid game!"

Bichomon, sensing JT's true frustration was not at the arcade machine but rather at their current predicament flew to his side, "Everything will be alright."

Those were four words that JT did not want to hear, "How can everything possibly be alright?" He snapped at the bug digimon. "We were attacked and almost burnt to a crisp by a dinosaur; some clown digimon that's meant to have been defeated is back and now my best friend's in the Digi-world trying to find out what's going on while I'm here getting my ass kicked in this stupid game!" he kicked the machine. During this outburst it dawned on Bichomon what the true cause of his frustration was.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to digivolve," Bichomon was genuinely apologetic; the last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint JT.

JT looked up at his digimon partner and his features softened at once, "I'm not angry at you, Bicho."

"Of course you are! You are frustrated at the fact that while Felizmon and ChibiLeomon can digivolve, I am unable to, which makes me weak."

"That's not it at all, Bicho. I'm angry that _I_ can't be much help; I'm angry at the fact that while Trey and Blaine go into the Digi-world and risk their lives I'm stuck here doing nothing at all!"

"But if I could digivolve then maybe you would have gone to the Digi-world with them."

"If anyone is to blame for you not being able to digivolve, it's me," Bichomon glanced questioningly at the digidestined. "When Felizmon digivolved couldn't you feel the connection between him and Trey? It's almost as though he was feeding off Trey's energy; maybe the problem is that I just don't have enough strength to give, maybe I'm just too weak."

"You cannot possibly believe that!"

"I don't know what I believe right now," JT sighed, it had been a long day and he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. "Let's just go home."

"But Trey asked us to ensure that Mika arrives home safely," Bichomon reminded JT of Trey's last request before he was pulled through the digi-port.

"Do you know where she is?"

"She and Isis are at the mall; Isis wanted to help her take her mind off her brother for a while," Bichomon informed him. Bichomon and JT left the Arcade Hall; the mall was a short walk from the arcade. Before the pair began their journey to the mall an urgent cry from close behind them grabbed their attention.

"JT, wait! I need your help!" JT and Bichomon turned sharply to see a man pushing his way desperately through the sidewalk traffic. The man's features were coated in dirt, his white attire was now a yellow-brown, and he moved with a severe limp while his right hand clutched his left rib section tightly. At once JT recognized this man.

"Benjamin? What are you doing here? Trey and Blaine went to the Digi-world to look for you," JT rushed to the man's side as Benjamin's knees buckled and he lost balance. "What's happened to you?"

Benjamin took a moment to gather enough strength to talk, "I need your help, JT," he breathed heavily. "They're coming."

"Who is coming?" Bichomon asked as he too fluttered to Benjamin's side.

"They're after the stone," Benjamin released his side, revealing a large tear in his clothing; where flesh should have been there was now a bloody gash and judging by the blood flowing freely from the wound it was a fresh injury. Benjamin reached into a pouch hidden within the folds of his clothing and drew out a small translucent orb, no larger than a tennis ball; floating in the centre was a pair of golden scales, surrounded by a feint red glow. The wounded man took JT's right hand, placed the orb in his palms and wrapped the digidestined's fingers around it. "Protect it with your life."

"What is it?"

"The stone of Libra; it's one of the 12 Zodiac Stones," Benjamin explained through labored breaths.

"Zodiac stones? Benjamin, what's going on? Let's get you to a hospital or something," Benjamin held up his hand, gesturing for JT not to move him.

"There is no time for that; listen to what I am about to tell you and listen carefully."

"But–"

Benjamin swiftly interjected. "Don't ask any questions and don't interrupt me until I'm finished; I haven't got much time left and it's going to take all the energy that I have to tell you what you need to know," he quickly stole a glance over his shoulder; there was still enough time. "As I said; the stone of Libra is one of the 12 Zodiac Stones…"

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Mika stared blankly at the Caesar Salad on the plate in front of her. Isis didn't feel much like eating either but she knew that allowing her worry to show would be of little comfort to Mika. "A penny for your thoughts?" Isis asked as she bit into her cheese burger. She already knew what was on her mind; she'd asked merely to draw Mika out of her slump. The food court at the mall was filled with the usual energy, chatter and laughter of families, friends and couples enjoying a meal, however on this particular day a dark cloud seemed to loom above Isis and Mika – figuratively speaking, of course.

Mika remained silent.

"They'll be fine, Mika," Isis feigned a smile. "They've got Leomon and ShadowGaogamon to protect them if they run into any trouble."

No reply.

"Trey wouldn't want you to worry. He'll be back before you know it and I'm sure they'll tell us that everything that's happened has all just been one big misunderstanding and that there's nothing to worry about."

"How can you be so sure?" Mika suddenly snapped.

Isis was taken aback by this uncharacteristic outburst; pulling herself together, she spoke slowly so as to conceal any indication that she was not being entirely sincere, "I am sure because I have faith that everything will be okay and I also know that Trey can look after himself, so I don't have to worry about him and neither do you, Mika." Mika smiled weakly; there was nothing Isis could say to ease her mind. "Now what do you say we go window shopping, Mika?"

"You don't have to babysit me, Isis; I'm just going to dampen your mood; I'll just go home."

"Don't be silly; we both need to preoccupy ourselves."

"C'mon, Mika, it'll be fun!" Petalmon chirped.

"Okay, okay, I can see you guys aren't going to take no for an answer," Mika sighed. The foursome gathered their things, placed enough money to cover their bill on the table where they ate and moved away from the food court, towards the shops. They hadn't walked more than five paces when fearful screams suddenly filled the entire mall as people sprinted in different directions; expressions of terror, etched on their faces.

"What's going on?" Isis gasped, stunned by the abrupt change.

Chattemon and Petalmon grew to tense as they scanned their surroundings for any sign of trouble. "We've got company," Chattemon breathed. Other than the panicked mall-goers nothing seemed to be out of place.

"I can't see anythi…" Mika trailed off as a dark shadow was cast over the foursome; at once the four looked upward. Through the glass surface that formed the roof of the mall a large blue serpentine creature with giant tattered red wings and a white bone helmet over its face could be seen circling the building. Riding on the back of this fearsome dragon was a significantly smaller being; about half the size of an average middle aged woman; with a coat of grey fur, black clawed paws, long floppy, ragged ears, a long thin tail and red and black mischievous eyes, this creature resembled a bipedal feline rabbit, though its posture and the length of its arms suggested it was naturally a quadruped.

The dragon's enraged roar alone was enough to shatter the glass ceiling; the mall-goers either ran for cover or threw their hands above them to shield their faces from the falling glass. The cat-rabbit digimon smirked in satisfaction; she seemed to derive pleasure from the chaos below.

"What are Airdramon and Gazimon doing here?" Petalmon asked no one in particular as the foursome dove under a nearby counter to avoid the shattered glass.

"What they're doing here is a question for later, right now I'd rather know what we're going to do to stop them from hurting anyone," Isis peered above at the pair of menacing digimon.

"Gazimon's a pushover, the only reason she's so smug is because she's with Airdramon," Chattemon said through gritted teeth; just the thought of the grey cat-rabbit seemed to infuriate her. "I hate Gazimon!"

"I really doubt Airdramon's a pushover though," Isis had to shout in order to be heard over the screams of the mall-goers and the dragon's roar. "We've got to act quickly." As if on cue Chattemon dashed out from under the counter, a determined expression hardened her visage.

"WHIPLASH!" The pink cat's antennae-like protrusions stretched skyward, wrapping themselves around the grey rabbit; with a forceful nudge of Chattemon's head, Gazimon flew off her mount and plummeted to the ground, her screams did not cease until she connected with a loud thud against the tiled floor. Chattemon flashed a satisfied grin at her friends.

"Dark Twister!" Airdramon roared. Chattemon's grin disappeared as the earth beneath her exploded; the shockwave of the explosion slammed the pink digimon against a nearby wall. Gazimon, who had managed shakily to stand on all fours, charged the fallen cat digimon.

Petalmon, without hesitation, sprang out from underneath the counter and flew at the grey rabbit. "Seed blast!" she fired a round of seeds at Gazimon, which exploded on impact; the grey feline rabbit was hurled backward and sent through a glass display, shattering the glass on impact.

"Watch out, Petalmon!" Mika warned the plant digimon; Petalmon looked up in time to see Airdramon fire a volley of air spears flying towards her; though she managed to evade the brunt of the attack, a spear skimmed her side, tearing a significant gash across the side of her head. The plant digimon howled in pain as she fell to the ground, unable to sustain flight. Every fiber in Mika's body wanted to run to the digimon and nurse its wounds but her fear rendered her limbs unmovable. "PETALMON, NOOO!"

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"There is still a great deal we don't know about the Zodiac Stones; how they came into existence and the full extent of their power remains a mystery," merely talking sent an agonizing pain coursing through his body, but Benjamin hid it well; he had to make sure the digidestined knew exactly what it was that they were up against. "What we do know about the stones is enough for us to be fearful of the consequences of all 12 stones falling into the wrong hands.

"Each of the 12 stones represents one of the 12 zodiac signs: Libra, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Cancer, Pisces, Aquarius, Aries, Capricorn, Gemini and Taurus. Alone they are relatively useless, but when all 12 stones are together, it is rumored that they grant the wielder the power to alter the very fabric of reality.

"The 4 sovereign digimon scattered the 12 stones across both the Digital World and this world, to ensure that no one would wield such power. Six of the stones are hidden in this world and the other six are in the Digi-world. Apparently the stones are naturally drawn to one another so when two or more are close they flare up and exert a kind of magnetic pull over each other.

"Piedmon has been searching for the stones; he somehow managed to get his hands on the Aries Stone and yesterday, in a swamp region of the Digi-world he attained the stone of Cancer, now he is after the Libra Stone. You _cannot_ let him get this stone, JT. If he gets all 12 stones, who knows what he will do; he's already proven to be more powerful than ever.

"I came to this world in the hopes of finding you digidestined so I could deliver this stone to you and warn you about the coming danger," by now the pain of talking had gotten to be too much for Benjamin; he paused. Tightening his fist, he attempted to compose himself.

JT took advantage of the silence to speak. "But Trey, Blaine, Felizmon and ChibiLeomon went into the Digi-world to look for you."

"Once I arrived in this world Jijimon informed me that eight of your friends had crossed the divide and are now the Digi-world; he is with them right now."

"Eight?"

"Yes, the four you have already mentioned, Fledgemon and her partner and Porcemon and his partner," Benjamin explained; JT's eyes widened at the realization that Ashley and Shi'anne were also in the Digi-world, he cursed under his breath.

"I've got to go the Digi-world; I don't think Trey and the others know that my cousin and Shi'anne are also in the Digi-world," JT shot to his feet immediately. Before Benjamin could open his mouth to protest, frightened screams, a menacing roar and shattering glass could be heard not too far away. The three turned to the source of the clamor; the mall.

"They're here," Benjamin gasped as the three watched Airdramon flying above the mall. "Run away; do not let them get the stone!"

"No," JT protested. "My friends are in there! You ready, Bicho?" The bug digimon nodded his agreement and the pair boldly rushed towards the mall.

"Fool," Benjamin whispered as he laboriously climbed to his feet; clutching his wounded side tighter than before, he limped after JT and Bichomon. "I can't let you fight them alone or they'll get the stone."

JT turned his head to face Benjamin, without slowing his pace. "I'll do anything I can to protect your stone; but if that means ignoring the fact that my friends are in danger while I run away like some coward then I'm sorry you found the wrong digidestined."

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"Dark Twister!" Airdramon fired a ball of black air from its mouth at the wounded Petalmon. Isis dove for the little plant digimon, barely dodging the attack. The ball of air exploded on impact with the now vacant ground, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake.

"Are you alright, Petalmon?" Isis coughed violently, having inhaled some of the smoke. Petalmon's face was contorted in pain but she managed a nod; she would have been far worse off had Isis not saved her.

A tear streaked down the side of Mika's face; her digimon friend had been faced with deletion, yet she was so scared that she had done nothing to help. "I'm sorry, Petalmon," she whispered tearfully under her breath. At the corner of her tear stained eyes she noticed as Gazimon rushed towards her, her claws ready to slash.

"Whiplash!" Chattemon's antennae wrapped around Gazimon's ankles and pulled the grey rabbit towards the pink cat. Gazimon hacked at the antennae with her black claws, causing Chattemon to yelp in pain. Free of Chattemon's tendrils, the grey digimon leapt onto the pink cat; the pair were now immersed in a violent wrestling match as one tried to tumble her way on top of the other. With Chattemon being dealt with by Gazimon, Airdramon was free to focus his full attention on the remaining digimon; Petalmon. Fortunately for the blue dragon, Petalmon and Isis were in clear range of its Dark Twister attack.

"BUZZ STINGER!" a large spike-like projectile tore through the air and pierced Airdramon's side, interrupting the dragon digimon's attack. Airdramon, Mika, Isis and Petalmon turned sharply to see JT and Bichomon arrive at the scene, with Benjamin limping arduously behind them.

"Hope we're not too late," JT said as he rushed to Isis and Petalmon's side.

"You're right on time," Isis managed a weak smile.

"Buzz Stinger!" Bichomon shot another tail stinger at Airdramon, who easily slapped the stinger away with a quick swish of his tail.

"Wing cutter!" Airdramon beat its large wings, sending two blades of air racing towards Bichomon. The bug digimon evaded the first blade but the second air blade ripped through his side and knocked him to the ground, near where JT, Isis and Petalmon crouched. At the sight of her fallen comrade Petalmon stirred in Isis's grasp but was in too much pain to do much else. JT hurried to Bichomon's side, examining the extent of the damage.

Airdramon watched as the male teenager ran to the fallen bug digimon, a glint of light caught his eyes. The dragon then spotted Benjamin, the man he and Gazimon had been sent to find, the man who held the stone of Libra; at that moment realization struck Airdramon as he peered at the source of the glint and noticed part of a sphere poking out from within the teenagers pocket; the dragon smirked. "Give me the stone!"

JT looked up at the blue dragon. "Over my dead body!" he spat defiantly.

Airdramon let out a slow deep chuckle. "That can be arranged, human. DARK TWISTER!"

The ball of black air hurtled through the air at an incredible speed; there was no way JT and Bichomon could evade the attack. _This is it…_JT though and shut his eyes tightly, anticipating the pain that would come with his death.

Nothing.

JT slowly opened his eyes to see that both he and Bichomon had somehow survived the attack.

"Protect the stone with your life."

JT looked to his side to see Benjamin sprawled on the ground, his body lifeless as it slowly disintegrated into digital data. _H-he risked his life for me. _This thought filled JT with a mixture of emotions ranging from grief to anger but what was most significant was the newfound strength flowing through him. His digivice began to glow in his pocket. A bright light surrounded Bichomon. It was time.

"BICHOMON!" JT cried as loudly as his lungs allowed. "DIGIVOLVE!"

"Bichomon digivolve to…"

The light surrounding Bichomon exploded outward; everyone in the area had to either close or cover their eyes to protect them from temporary blindness. When the light faded the small dragon-bug digimon was nowhere to be seen; in its place stood a huge green praying mantis. The digimon had eight limbs, four of which were its legs and the uppermost pair ended in large, sharp sickles. There were red tribal markings on its head and two red protrusions stuck out from either side of its forehead.

"…SNIMON!"

"You finally digivolved!" JT cheered proudly; he'd waited for this moment for so long.

"Couldn't have done it without you," Snimon's voice was deep and gravely. The praying mantis trained his attention on the blue dragon. "You're going down!" with that his large wings started to beat so fast that they were barely visible as he tore through the air towards Airdramon. Airdramon fired Dark Twister after Dark Twister at him; however Snimon swiftly evaded every attack. "TWIN SICKLES!" the praying mantis slashed the air with his bladed limbs, sending a pair of pink crescent beams hurtling towards the dragon digimon. Airdramon avoided contact with one of the beams but howled in pain as the other beam sliced through his flesh near his head.

"Spinning Needle!" the blue dragon fired a multitude of air spears at the insect digimon. Snimon thrust his sickles in front of him, shielding him from the majority of spears. The force of the spears that he was unable to deflect knocked Snimon backwards but he was able to regain balance before he collided into anything.

"Now you've made me angry," Snimon sneered. "Ultimate Twin Sickle!" he sent four pink crescent beams hurtling towards Airdramon. The dragon was too slow to elude any of the beams; two of the beams ripped through his left wing, rendering it unusable and the other two beams created gashes in two places. Unable to sustain flight, the blue dragon plummeted earth-bound, smashing through all four storeys of the mall and the three storeys of the underground parking lot. The destruction captured the attention of everyone present, even Chattemon and Gazimon ceased their skirmish in order to observe the spectacle. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Snimon scoffed. "SLAMMING ATTACK!" with that he dove through the holes that Airdramon's plummet had created in the ground, and rammed the dragon digimon with the full weight of his body. Airdramon let out a final bone curdling howl of agony before his body exploded in a shower of digital data.

There was stunned silence as everyone processed what they had just witnessed.

Snimon flew back to the fourth floor of the mall where JT and the other mall-goers stood staring at the praying mantis; some in awe and others in fear. "Did I do good?" Snimon asked as he reverted to his rookie form.

"You did great!" JT finally exclaimed affectionately embracing the weary Bichomon. "You couldn't have done better, buddy."

"Erh…guys…" everyone's attention was now drawn to Mika who had finally crawled out from under the counter. "Where's Gazimon?" the three humans and digimon peered around for the grey rabbit but to no avail; he'd managed to escape while everyone's attention was trained on the battle between Snimon and Airdramon.

"That good-for-nothing Gazimon got away!" Chattemon growled. "If I ever see her again I'll –"

"We'd better get out of here" Isis interrupted the pink cat's ranting. "This is going to be all over the news tonight and I seriously don't feel like dealing with reporters or the police." Before the six could reach the exit, the message tune on Mika's cellphone went off. She drew her phone from her pocket and read the message.

"It's from Trey," Mika announced. "He says they're in the Digi-world, they're safe and they're with someone called Jijimon…" her eyes widened and her hands began to tremble as she read the rest of the message.

"What is it, Mika, what does the message say?" Isis asked; the panic rising in her voice.

"They can't leave the Digi-world."

"What do you mean they can't leave the Digi-world?" JT snapped. "Ashley's in there!"

The phone clattered against the ground as Mika buried her face in her palms; the tears welling up in her eyes. "The Digi-ports have been sealed…they're trapped."

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Okay so that's number four done! Yippee!

To anyone that happens to read this I'd really appreciate it if you commented on my battle scenes, I try to make them as graphic and dynamic as possible so it'd be nice to know what I'm doing wrong and where I can improve.

Other than that… PEACE, LOVE, and MORE TOLERANCE!


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